Steve Tucker: Swansea City loss was a big blow to Cardiff City's Premier League survival hopes

Our man Steve Tucker was at the Liberty Stadium to watch the Swans beat the Bluebirds 3-0. He admits to being baffled by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's decision to leave Jordon Mutch and Craig Noone on the bench

Fanciful notions of the Bluebirds making history by becoming the first side to win the two South Wales derbies in a single season never looked like materialising as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men were not only beaten, but summarily dismissed by their hosts. There had been plenty of conjecture beforehand that the Swans might still be in a state of shock following the sacking of manager Michael Laudrup just four days earlier, but this demolition proved that those hopes were false as new boss Garry Monk got the near perfect response from his men.

Indeed rather than raise questions about Swansea’s new manager this sorry showing from the Bluebirds, their heaviest derby day reverse in nearly 20 years, will instead do little to dispel the doubts hanging over Cardiff’s new man, Solskjaer himself.

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If you forget for a moment, if you can, the embarrassment of losing to ‘the old enemy’ this result was another body blow to City’s hopes of being a Premier League team next season.

Kicking off at tea-time, they had seen many of those around them pick up useful points., so the Bluebirds had to respond.

Instead, a trio of second-half goals from Wayne Routledge, Nathan Dyer and Wilfried Bony meant Solskjaer has taken just three points from the 15 on offer to him since he took up the reins in the capital.

That one win of course came against Norwich and to be honest, while the Bluebirds dug deep that day to earn the win, it was a showing that still left plenty of capacity for doubt.

Solskjaer has shown already that he is not a man afraid to make the big shouts. Most notably against the Canaries when he substituted Peter Whittingham in controversial fashion during the first-half to bring on Wilfried Zaha. That was a bold move that worked on the day, but his decisions before and during this clash at the Liberty Stadium went badly wrong.

Solskjaer’s starting XI was unusual straight away, one glance at the team-sheet and one was left wondering where Jordon Mutch and Craig Noone were with the answer being, almost unfathomably, on the bench.

Anyone who has seen the Bluebirds knows that Mutch’s drive from midfield is vital if Cardiff are to have any forward momentum and Noone has proved himself one of the trickiest wideman in the League recently.

Solskjaer actually kept Whittingham in the side, but it proved unwise with the midfielder still looking out of sorts, while Zaha was poor on his first Premier League start.

The inclusion of Kim Bo-Kyung also backfired for the Cardiff manager with the South Korean looking powder-puff throughout and proving easy meat for a Swansea defence pretty much untroubled throughout.

One is perhaps being slightly harsh on the Bluebirds, particularly when we take the first-half into closer consideration. City had to weather an early maelstrom from their hosts. It seemed the Swans were eager to exorcise the ghosts of a tough week and they threw themselves at their startled visitors as persistently as the lashing rain right from the very off.

But, as has been their trouble recently, despite their fabled passing game and snappy approach play, Swansea were never quite cute enough in the first period to open up a Cardiff side which grew in stature and finally got something of a foothold in the game.

The Bluebirds arguably had the better chances first period too, with Whittingham slipping when well-placed and Craig Bellamy wasting a good effort.

In fairness to Bellamy, the match-winner the last time the two teams met at the Liberty Stadium almost three years ago to the day, if there was one player who exemplified the drive and passion expected of a Bluebird in a South Wales derby then it was the 34-year-old who displayed it.

Bellamy can still walk the walk and if his team-mates had shown just a fraction of the energy and verve that he did we could well have seen a different story here. We might have seen a different story anyway if good fortune had smiled on Bellamy when he came as close to scoring as anyone in a Cardiff shirt was going to.

On 51 minutes he cut inside and unleashed a shot that had the returning Michel Vorm in the Swans goal beaten, but which came crashing back off the bar.

That would have made it 1-1 after the Bluebirds had got off to the worse possible start to the second-half. Former Cardiff player Routledge fired home within 90 seconds of the restart after a ball through the eye of the needle from Swansea’s half-time substitute Pablo Hernandez.

That pass had found Cardiff full-back Fabio out of position again, the former Manchester United man failing to thrill anyone with his display once more.

In fairness to Fabio though, every one of the Swans goals could lead one to point an accusing finger at a member of the Bluebirds back-line.

Dyer’s diving header was basically just watched by youngster Declan John who did not just fail to act incisively enough, but failed to act full stop. Bony’s solid header near the end, to complete the Bluebirds misery, saw Ben Turner just not get tight enough on the marksman as the ball came into the box. It was deeply unsatisfactory from a Cardiff point of view right down to Solskjaer’s interventions from the bench.

Kevin McNaughton’s arrival for Fabio was sort of meaningless really apart from making one think perhaps the tough little Scot was unlucky not to be starting and Mutch’s arrival for Zaha was too little.

On 56 minutes Solskjaer had made the change up-front with Fraizer Campbell coming on for Kenwyne Jones and it did give the Bluebirds a bit of a boost. Jones, the idol previously against Norwich, had a much tougher afternoon here.

The frontman worked incredibly hard, but was left ultimately frustrated. Those of us watching were perhaps left believing Jones did not really ask enough questions of Swansea captain Ashley Williams and his fellow defender Chico Flores.

It’s simple enough in the end, the Cardiff players and their manager let the supporters down. Your average Bluebird in work today, you fear, is getting a dreadful ribbing and he or she is just going to have to take it on the chin without complaint I’m afraid.

The Bluebirds were beaten by a superior side in Swansea even if they hardly helped themselves.

If Solskjaer and his men are to make it up to their followers the best way to do that would be by bouncing back against Aston Villa at home tomorrow night.